Delvac Synthetic 5w-40 saves engine from seizing

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My best friend works for a heavy equipment company. The only oil they have to use is Delvac 5w-40 synthetic. The owner has a completly restored 1956 Ford. It is the one with the retractable hardtop. The owner was changing his own oil and after draining it got called away.He came back an about an hour later and cranked the car. It started ticking after a few minutes, but he kept it running. He called my mechanic buddy over to listen to the new noise, he said that the noise was different than a lifter tick or rod knock, and told the owner he would try to figure it out before he left for the day. The motor has now been idling for about 30 to 45 minutes according to the owner, he looks and sees the oil jugs sitting where he had originally left them still full. He shuts the car off, fills the crankshaft, cranks the car and the ticking slowly subsides. He drives the car around the block a couple of times and all the noise disappears. The engine never seized and it seems at this time all is well. I use this oil in my Miller Trailblazer welder with a 20 hp Onan because of what I have read here. I was a believer and now my buddy is a true believer also. The boss must have been a believer because that is all his company will use in all of their equipment large and small. I bet he is happy with his choice. GOOD OIL under tough circumstances. I promise this is true, because I type so slow it would not have been worth the effort to lie. I use Mobil Delvac 1300 15w-40 in my Powerstroke.
 
I immagine you are running the delvac 1300, With the price of Delvac 5w one would need financing to afford it in a power stroke.
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Good information to know. What do you think caused this miracle? Maybe the ester content. They say esters tend to stay on the metal....whatever it was I'll bet the boss is smilin'
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I would love to see that test repeated using Castrol GTX or similar, to see whether it was just by chance or Delvac really made a difference.

Gotta love the no oil demos...
 
quote:

The owner was changing his own oil and after draining it got called away.He came back an about an hour later and cranked the car. It started ticking after a few minutes, but he kept it running. He called my mechanic buddy over to listen to the new noise, he said that the noise was different than a lifter tick or rod knock, and told the owner he would try to figure it out before he left for the day. The motor has now been idling for about 30 to 45 minutes according to the owner, he looks and sees the oil jugs sitting where he had originally left them still full

Mobil Delvac 5W-40 was designed for guys who do this..
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Almost any solid lifter motor can run at idle for a while with little or no damage, it is simply a function of load on the bearings. Recall all those oil additive commercials, it is not the oil but lack of load. Not to mention that 292 or 312 Y block Ford motor probably has very loose clearances.

Cary
 
the engine IS damaged, he just hasn't seen the consequences yet. the best thing to do would be open it up and inspect (rebuild likely necessary) it before running it.
 
Exactly - the lack of loading, solid lifters helped, loose bearing tolerances all helped and I would expect that any decent API formulated motor oil would have performed about the same.

Being a Group 2/3 helped but the real saviour was a decent anti-wear additive package - not the base oil.

Now, had he driven down the highway for 45 minutes without damage, now you might have a testimonial.
 
The convertible top question to me is not the issue. I don't know the names and specs of the cars built in the 50's. I do know it is a 1956 or 1957 Ford that has been completely restored. My point is not whether I got the correct car, but the engine ran with no oil for about 30 -45 minutes. Sorry for my lack of knowledge. I don't know that much about oil, but to me it is a pretty good testimony of the protection it provides. That is why I use it in my welder.
 
I don't get it...doesn't every car (even those dating way back) have an oil pressure idiot light? It would have been glowing red.

Sounds like an old oil wive's tail to me...
 
Dr.T,
Yes I'm sure it has an idiot light. No it is not a wives tale . Yes it happened about a week ago. The owner dropped the oil put the filter on and and got called to the front of the business, came back a while later cranked the car and let it idle. After it ran a few minutes it started ticking. He hunted my buddy down to listen. This is not a small business. The car is still idling and ticking the whole time. My buddy tells his boss he will look at it after he gets done fixing a piece of equipment. A few minutes later as he is walking around, he sees his oil jugs and that is when it hit him, no oil. He puts oil in the car and cranks it and the tick slowly subsides. Drives the car around the block and there seems to be no ill effect. I type so painfully slow, to take the time to type this story just to make up a lie would be ridiculous. If you you don't believe me that is your right. It made a Delvac believer out of my buddy because I had been telling him what the people on this website had been saying about this oil. Sorry to take up any more of your time.
 
Excellent oil for your welder, but your other scenario is meaningless. He got lucky. If he'd driven highway miles, it might have never given any indication until it was all over in about 10 or 15 miles.

Been there, done that. I picked up Dad's truck from his trusted mechanic, ran whisper quite and locked up in 15 miles. Idiot light didn't work.
 
sounds like an Amsoil sales story....you wanna hear some? Oh yeah not allowed....
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There was a documented case of a.....sorry...diesel....oil drain plug....Amsoil....no oil....got to job site.....added plug refilled.....drove xxxxxxxmore miles......

I read that one in Action news.
 
quote:

Originally posted by welderboy:
Sorry some folks think I wasted their time.

Like somebody said above, I think you got lucky that the engine was only idling and not under load. Unfortunately, I was on the other side and ruined my Audi 1.8L motor on the highway, when an oil seal broke. I was running Synpower 5w-40 at the time. I new that the oil pressure was dropping and the light started flickering. I was on my way somewhere and decided I could make it a few more miles. I made it, but it sounded like a diesel.
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Later, I replaced the seal, drove it back home, but a bearing gave out on the way home and it was knocking pretty bad. But, the thing still had power. Time will tell if you got away with one. The delvac might have helped, but I think the lack of loading the motor saved you more than anything.
 
Sorry, yes accidents can happen (they do to all of us). I was referring to the fact that it was Delvac 1. It probably could have been any oil.

I agree that it was the fact that no load was placed on the engine....similar to adding kerosene aka gunk into the engine and thereby diluting the oil. It's safe as long as no load is placed. No time wasted...
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quote:

Originally posted by davidc:

Being a Group 2/3 helped but the real saviour was a decent anti-wear additive package - not the base oil.


Delvac synthetic 5W-40 is a full PAO synthetic oil...the full name is Mobil Delvac 1 5W-40. It is good for 60+,000 miles in many over-the-road trucks.


Welderboy,
thanks for the info. Some folks still do not believe that there are a few superior oils and that sometimes a catastrophe can be averted with a better oil.


Ken
 
Auto Tech guys in college (mid-70s) ran a raffle to guess how long a corvair 110 would run w/o oil before seizing up. Well no one won the pot, they took bets on the minute. It must have ran almost 20 minutes with someone reving the pi$$ out of it before starting to bind up.. The club ook the money had had a beer blast with it.
 
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